While my name is on this book as the author, I need to say that many hands created this book. Besides Samantha's father, and the parents of Ruth, Quincy, and me, virtually all of my relatives and persons mentioned in this book are still alive. This is a complicated story. Many people insisted that changes be made to protect people's privacy.
Samantha Barnes has been invaluable in negotiating requests from a large number of family members for changes. Her work made an impossible task into a movement for consensus. It was her insistence that the description of the kidnapping was as real as possible while still sparing the reader from unneeded gross details. She insists that everyone fully understands what her wife (and Bobbie) went through.
Since I collaborated heavily with Samantha Barnes on the writing of this book, I must reveal a secret about our relationship. A few months before she proposed to Mary, she wanted to know more about my character. It was Samantha that seized on the status of Jay as the acid test of my character. She asked me if I felt like contributing to Jay's slave custodial account. I ended up putting in much more than she expected. By doing so, she felt she could trust my instincts. I now understand that Samantha's trust in me allowed so many subsequent events to take place. In retrospect, I am grateful that I aced her test. I feel that if she had pushed me on some other issues, I might not have done as well.
I have received large numbers of e-mails suggesting who would be best to play various persons in the movie of this book. While interesting (and flattering), I have to say that my focus is on the book. My goal has been to write a short book that could be released in the same calendar year as Deb's book on Jane. I think I am meeting that goal by just a few weeks. It is my opinion that this book has portions too graphic and distasteful to ever make into a movie. I know that predictions about show business often misfire. So I will just say, “Don't break a leg and don't make this movie!”
Many readers of early drafts of this book begged for information of the fate of key players. I found it tedious to interrupt the narrative flow to go through a list of names. Faith's beloved college roommates are still together. Connie never wanted to free Terry. They are married, happy, worth many millions due to Project Blue Flame. They too got advice from Jane Foreman on how to launch their company as an IPO. In this instance, the stockholders in Blue Flame have been well rewarded for staying in for the long haul. I sometimes regret at the way we manipulated our own stock price. I hope history (and some of the investors) can forgive me. The last time I visited them was years after universal emancipation. They were very friendly. I noticed that Terry still wore a jeweled slave collar, and there was a variety of leashes on hooks by their front door. Old habits die hard.
The Wilson family (a pseudonym) has stayed close friends of our family. Faith and Ruth Wilson have been especially close. Ruth Wilson tapped into many memories that Faith has of her interacting with her Jewish neighbors when Faith was a child. I sometimes call Faith my secret Jew. She often attends Jewish services with Samantha and Mary. Ruth Wilson helped arrange for the Portland Jewish Federation to give our family a major human rights award for our work to provide legal rights to slaves. We were and still are grateful for the recognition. It was the only award that my family got before we because famous, so it holds a special place in my heart. I am humbled at all the ripples in time and space that started with a brief playground fight.
The ex-slaves Jane, Jay, Sophia, and Patricia, who were official and unofficial bridesmaids for the big wedding, are all doing well. Since I referred to their lurid past, I want to be very careful not to give any clues to their family names, family members, locations or occupations. Besides being contributing members of society, they have all contributed their talents and money to the House of Chris.
Recently, I found a database listing the richest and most accomplished one thousand ex-slaves. Of course, Jane Foreman was at the top of the list. I am proud that fully 40% of the people on the list are graduates of my family's programming academy. The social forces in our country are extreme. The social friction caused by angry ex-slaves cannot be minimized. While installing accomplished ex-slaves as their leadership is wrong (there is massive resentment between the x-minus and the x-plus; all of the graduates of the academy are x-plus), they can at least offer some path to positive steps.
Of course, the high volume of training of slaves was only possible because of the existence and needs of Jane Foreman's organizations. Most people want to strike out on their own to transform society. For myself, I am quite content to follow the coattails of Jane Foreman and her accomplished group of friends.
– Chris Ritter